Alcaraz on Australian Open defeat: 'A shame, but that's the game'

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Carlos Alcaraz did not go down without a fight Wednesday at the Australian Open.

The second-seeded Spaniard inched his way back into his quarter-final clash with Alexander Zverev by clinching the third set after an uncharacteristically slow start in Melbourne. Alcaraz could not maintain his level to deny the German victory, however, as Zverev ran out a 6-1, 6-3, 6-7(2), 6-4 winner to reach the last four.

“I'm glad to have ended in the third set playing great tennis,” said a philosophical Alcaraz in his post-match press conference. “Then the beginning of the fourth set, I couldn't stay at this level. It was a pity. I found the way to break his serve again and stay on the match. I think I had chances at 4-3 in the fourth set. I didn't take them.

“I think I played good tennis in the fourth set. Obviously not to my best level, but it was a good one. Didn't take my chances, a lot of ups and downs with my level, with my tennis, with the serves. I didn't find a good serve. He was returning very well, so it was tough to deal with the pressure that he put on me in every point with my serve.

“That's it. I have to improve. I have to still keep working on it, and let's see in the future. But it's a shame about my level today.”

The highlight of Wednesday night from Alcaraz’s perspective was the way he battled back from 2-5 in the third set to revive his victory hopes. The No. 2 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings strung together a series of spellbinding points in the resulting tie-break as he fed off an increasingly raucous atmosphere inside Rod Laver Arena.

“I think it [went to] a fourth set because of the crowd, and the way that they brought energy to me,” said Alcaraz. “It was crazy. I was down, totally down, and they started, or they didn't stop, supporting me, so it was crazy.

“I want to thank them for staying there, believing in me, supporting me in every ball, in every point. Probably the comeback in the third set, it was thanks to them. Without them probably I would have lost in three sets.”

Alcaraz had dropped just one set in four matches in Melbourne this fortnight prior to Wednesday’s defeat. Reaching the quarter-finals represents the 20-year-old’s best showing in three appearances at the season’s opening Grand Slam, and Alcaraz is viewing his run at Melbourne Park as something to build on.

“It has been a good tournament for me, making the quarter-finals, playing good tennis,” he said. "I'm sad with my level today, because I have been playing good tennis in the rounds before this one, with a lot of confidence. Serving pretty well. I didn't show this good level of serving that I was showing before this match.

“But in general I leave the tournament happy. Forgetting about today's level. I think I did a pretty good tournament. I played great matches and obviously quarter-final of a Grand Slam is good. It is not what I'm looking for, but it is not bad. [Reaching the] quarter-finals is a good run.

“With the level that I was playing before, coming into this match with a lot of confidence, knowing that I'm playing good tennis, it's a shame that I started the match the way that I did and ended the way that I did. But that's tennis.”